a-bloggin

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Unslut is a documentary created by Emily Lindin to teach about slut shaming and it's affects on girls of all ages. Emily Lindin, the founder of the Unslut Project, takes you through several true stories of girls who have been slut shamed during their grade school years. Throughout the documentary, we hear the thoughts form family and friends who went through the experiences with the girls and how it affected them. The Unslut Project began when Emily Lindon was slut-shamed when she was very young. This motivated her to start the Unslut Project in 2013 and post entries from her diary when she was younger to help and inspire girls to do the same. She opened this forum so that all genders can have a safe place to share their stories. This documentary was definitely eye opening for me because we all have slut shamed in the past and sometimes people just like to start tumors because they have nothing else better to do with their lives. I'm glad Lindin has started this movement because a lot of celebrities, like Amber Rose, has contributed to the awareness of slut shamming happening everywhere.

I'm sorry to say, but young men are being raised into rape culture, as seen in Tough Guise 2. Men are taught to praise the female body for it's wondrous curves , but shame it at the same time. Society is teaching men that it's okay for them only to have sex often but a woman cannot be sexually liberated herself. When a woman is sexually liberated, she is deemed as a slut. When speaking on sex positivity, we as a society should promote safe sex, instead of shaming women who are free to do whatever they want.http://www.amberroseslutwalk.com/

Sunday, December 6, 2015

I've always thought of the most powerful way to get rid of racism and systematic oppression was through POC standing up for ourselves, I now understand that in order to alter the world and history, our white allies do need to stand up with us. Many claim they aren't racist nor support racism but will not speak up when a racist act is being performed. I understand the fear that people have when it comes to speaking up on behalf of others, but sitting on the sidelines and not stopping it just makes you apart of the problem because you are unintentionally participating. Participating in racist acts is not the wave. On the other hand it is very difficult to help change the views of racist people, hence why many think it's pointless to even try.

Ayvazian explains what an ally and allied behavior is in her article. Allied behavior is, "intentional, overt, consistent activity that challenges prevailing patterns of oppression, makes privileges that are so often invisible, and facilitates the empowerment of persons targeted by oppression." For example, Bernie Sanders is an ally. Donald Trump is FARRRRRRR from it. My favorite quote from this article was Ayvazian quoting William Stickland, "When a critical mass of white people join together, rise up, and shout a thunderous "No!" to racism, we will actually alter the course of history."

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Tough Guise 2:
It was enjoyable learning about how feminism correlates with male/masculinity. I knew that feminism was not only concerning women, but all genders. Not many people (especially males) realize that feminism is not a female-only movement. Feminists are usually stereotyped as man-hating raging lesbians, and I don't blame them because some of our kind act this way by blaming men for everything.Violence is definitely the main focus on masculinity. Men and boys alike are being taught to be tough, not be a "sissy", not cry, and remain emotionless through movies, media and video games, and of course every day life because it is our social norm and definitely apart of manhood. In Tough Guise 2, it was said, "Men's violence is inevitable. It's a natural phenomenon." It was also mentioned that violence is natural to a male because of their high testosterone levels. Because of social norms, people put the pressure on men that they only way to resolve problems is to fight.
Another point Tough Guise 2 made was that when women act out, their gender becomes the story, but like when a man of color does, race becomes the story. I never thought of putting it that way. There are also different phrases used. Just this past week there was a blonde woman KING PIN arrested, and she was called ADORABLE, but all these other men, men who were shot and killed with no weapon or no felonies, gets labeled a thug.

What are Little Boys Made of? by Kimmel
I cannot believe the assumptions that critics have said about feminism, especially, "America has been so focused on girls that we've forgotten about boys." which is always an ongoing debate because men and boys never seem to be the main discussion in the media because in return there are men who firmly believe men are suppose to be masculine. The comparison of Norwegian, French or Swiss boys not being as violent, homophobic and misogynist as American boys concerns me because it is a problem in America. We are the last ones for everything because our government can never agree one something that will better our country.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Growing up I never played with dolls. Barbies and American Girl dolls was not my thing. I always liked to build, play video games and never liked the color pink. My parents were okay with that because boy toys were always essentially cheaper. I still wore dresses and liked the color pink. I wore pink almost every day for years. Everyone always bought me Barbies. I had the Barbie camper and a few dolls. I always, always, always tried to get myself to like playing with dolls, but there was nothing there to mentally stimulate. My imagination was there, but if I wasn't getting my hands dirty, it wasn't me. I remember getting my first American Girl doll for my 10th birthday. She was blonde and blue eyed. She came with a surfing board, as well as surfing gear. She came with a story, just as mentioned in the article. I just remember hating the way I looked because I did not resemble this doll. My little cousin recently was gifted an American Girl doll, pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. She loves it. She always tells me she wishes she looked like her. She's an Afro-Dominican child. I always tell her, "You're beautiful. You don't need pin straight hair, or light skin." I see her mind being warped because of this mental image of "perfection."

When asking Dana, a thirty eight year old stay at home mom, how she felt about the rest of the Little Mermaid, she exclaimed that she doesn't let her daughter read the actual story because they are horrible. Her daughter just identified with Ariel because she loves to swim. My favorite saying of Dana's was, "Every single one is the same: it's about romance, love, and being rescued by the prince. I will protect my daughter from that." This is a very strong point that Dana made. I wouldn't want my child growing up thinking that she needs to be rescued by someone in order to find love, but this is unintentionally learned throughout society. By telling girls at a young age, they SHOULDN'T be doing something deemed as masculine, almost lessens their being.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Saturday, October 17, 2015

White feminism is a thing, and should be discussed amongst everyone (whether or not you think it exists.) I am a black feminist, also known as a womanist. Womanists focus more on racial and gender oppression of black women or women of color. Mainstream feminism overlook the oppressions of black women or other minority groups, not so much purposely, but not knowing how to go about questioning what they can do.

I loved Smith's piece so much. In the second paragraph, she talks on racism and how no one ever wants to speak on it, but ti's always there. "For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are of constantly experiencing it..." She uses the words "hard" and "uncomfortable" to describe people's feelings towards the matter when no one should ever feel that way because racism and oppression is a feminist issue. Women are progressing, yes. But let's be honest. Women make 77 cents to a man's dollar? W R O N G. WHITE women make 77 cents to a man's dollar. Black women only make 64 cents to a man's dollar. Bet most people did not know that.

My favorite quote of this article was, "If lifting this oppression is not a priority to you, then it's problematic whether you are a part of the actual feminist movement." Feminism should be uplifting ALL women no matter what, all differences aside and if you cannot embrace who/what someone is, how can you understand the hardships others have to face?